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Fun Icebreaker Ideas for your First Week

Icebreakers help students loosen up, be more acquainted with each other, and create a first impression of the classroom. Hence, icebreakers are important to keep things interesting on the first day of class (or even in between sessions). Here are some unique icebreaker ideas that 21st-century students would love. Hint: Students will be using technology for this. Bring out those smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices, and let the games begin!

Get stripped.

This activity is about creating a 3-panel comic strip using online comic strip generators. The comic strip can be about students’ favorite places that they visited the past summer or new things they learned during the break. It can also be a comic strip that describes themselves or a recent funny moment they experienced. Require them to include 3 trivial facts about themselves, 2 of their hobbies, and 1 of their dream jobs. The activity can take up to 30 minutes. After they have created their comic strips, they can share it in class and post it on the wall. At the end of the session, the classroom will have a wall of comic strips that can last until the end of the semester.

Here are some cool comic strip generators.

StripGenerator is a black-and-white comic strip generator. It is very user-friendly. Students would simply choose and drag objects. The comic strip created can even be downloaded, saved, and printed.

Pixton is another comic strip generator that uses the drag-and-drop tool. Customization of graphics and typing of text is easy. Teachers can even create an account to collate the class’s comic strips.

Marvel’s Super Hero Squad Comic Creator is perfect even for elementary students. This allows them to create comic strips using Marvel’s famous superheroes. It also uses the drag-and-drop format, and the comics can be downloaded and printed. Turn those bare classroom walls into colorful and unique Marvel superhero stories.

Blast from the past.

When it comes to birthdays, students are always giddy to find out what happened on the day they were born, what major or political events occurred, what music was released, or who among famous celebrities share their birthdate. This activity will not only engage students but will also help them understand more about history without being bored, and it will teach them a new research technique.

Have students do a bit of research about their birthdate in history and share such fun facts with the class. Here are some sites that can make research easy.

New York Times: On This Day
History Channel: This Day In History
FactMonster: This Day In History

Fun fact

Gather students around and invite them to share a trivia fact they never knew before. Ask them to download the Learn Something Everyday App or visit its website. This provides interesting facts daily. Give them enough time to find trivia that interests them, and ask them to share why they find it interesting. Also, ask them to do a follow-up about the trivia, such as an essay or further research.